Tag: Vancouver Canucks

For the sake of sensation, readership, listenership or worse, filling an agenda against a General Manager whom some can’t stand and want fired, there are individuals both in the media and amongst a fan base who will take a rumour and make it sound like a fact. Why? Because it fits their agenda when they have an axe to grind, and/or it makes for good publicity for them.

A typical example of that came out this past week when Elliott Friedman, in his 31 Thoughts: The Podcast, made the following statement:

“There was a chance that the Canucks would get P.K. Subban but the problem was that Pierre-Luc Dubois was not going to fall to Vancouver’s pick, because Montreal knew that Columbus was going to take him. If Montreal believed that Dubois was going to be available at five, P.K. Subban could have been a Vancouver Canucks.”

That’s all Friedman said on the podcast. Well someone, somewhere – including danslescoulisses.com – brought back a Friedman article from June 24, 2016 and presented it as current. In the translation, they insinuate that Marc Bergevin declined an offer from Canucks’ GM Jim Benning which would have included Bo Horvat, Chris Tanev and the fifth overall pick for Subban. It didn’t take more for the vultures to take this false news and run with it and unfortunately, because they presented it as facts, people believed it.

However, as few reporters do in today’s day and age, someone by the name of Jeff Veillemette went straight to the source and pulled out Friedman’s 2016 30 Thoughts.

Puck Prose says that the Tanev+Horvat part came from a June 2016 article. To me, that looks like Elliotte speculating on a fair price, not him reporting an offer. My best interpretation (not 100%) would be that the offer @FriedgeHNIC referred to today was just the 1st round pick. pic.twitter.com/7N7YpvGbHR

You see the difference? There is no way that Benning would be crazy enough to offer that package for Subban and Bergevin being stupid enough to decline it. If anything, it might be what the Canadiens were asking the Canucks for Subban, had Dubois fallen to number five overall… but I’m convinced that Vancouver wouldn’t have done it.

The morale of the story is that before jumping to conclusions, get to the source folks and beware of those who have a #FireBergevin hashtag in their tweets. Chances are that they will believe anything and everything, even twisting things to make them fit their agenda, and they will present them as facts. Now if someone brings this up again, you can point them to this article. Go Habs Go!

Have you ever wondered, in your life, what would your world be if something different had happened? Everything as you know it would be different for the most part. What if you won the lottery? What if you could go back in time? What if there really is a boogeyman? What if the cow really jumped over the moon? What if the world ends tomorrow? What if hockey was just a sport instead of a matter of life and death? What if the sky was really falling? What if there were no hypothetical questions?

Let’s take some time to reflect on what would our world would be if some things happened with your beloved Montreal Canadiens, and how it would affect you and what it would do to the Twitter world, your favourite blogs, the media.

What if…Claude Julien doesn’t find a way to improve the Canadiens and they keep on sliding in the standing?

What if…Marc Bergevin doesn’t complete a substantial trade before the March first trade deadline because the asking prices are too high?

What if… Bergevin does pull the trigger and jeopardises the future of the organisation by trading, let’s say, Mikhail Sergachev?

What if…Max Pacioretty, who has been carrying the biggest part of the offensive load this season, turns cold?

What if… Alexander Radulov and Claude Julien don’t see eye to eye?

What if… Carey Price can’t find his Mojo and return to the goaltender that we know he is?

What if… Alex Galchenyuk‘s antics off the ice are truly affecting his on-ice performances and ultimately, the team?

What if… Shea Weber is truly on the down side of his career or at the end of the roll?

What if… Andrei Markov decides to retire at the end of this season or… if he asks for too much and/or for too long of a term on a new contract?

What if… David Desharnais becomes Claude Julien’s favourite player and overplays him at the eyes of Michel Therrien‘s detractors?

What if… the pundits surrounding the Habs decide to turn on Julien and realise that he’s much like Therrien in their eyes?

What if… the Canadiens don’t make it past the first round of the playoffs, perhaps even eliminated by the Boston Bruins?

What if… the rumours are true and Carey Price doesn’t want to re-sign with the Canadiens after his current contract?

What if… the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup this season?

A Canucks and Canadiens trade?

All we keep hearing about these days in the trade rumours surrounding the Canadiens is the talks about Matt Duchene and, to a lesser level now, the names of Martin Hanzal and Brian Boyle. Yet, it is well known that Marc Bergevin believes in defensive depth and that while Alexei Emelin is having a pretty good year playing alongside Shea Weber, Bergevin would like to get an improvement over the rugged Russian defenseman.

People who follow me know that while I am a die-hard Habs’ fan, I have developed a soft spot for the Vancouver Canucks since the good days of King Richard Brodeur way back in the 80’s. They also know that I live in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia and that I do get to see most of the Canucks’ games.

Alexander Edler

Folks, if he agreed to waive his no-trade clause, I can pretty much guarantee that the Canucks would be happy to part ways with left-handed defenseman Alexander Edler. The Canucks are tight to the cap and Edler has two years remaining after this season, at a cap hit of $5 million per season. On a team offensively challenged, the 30 year-old defenseman who stands at 6’3″ 214 lbs, has 14 points so far this season and he has had seasons anywhere from 20 to 49 points per season in his career.

Edler, for those of you who don’t get the chance to watch him play, is a smooth skating defenseman, shoots from the left and usually makes good first passes out of his zone. He is somewhat physical, averaging 1.8 hits/GP, which is exactly like Jeff Petry and Shea Weber on the Canadiens. He is a going point man on the powerplay and he has a heavy shot, although not always accurate with it. He is also prone for the odd “brain cramp” with a bad pass at the wrong time, but those are rather few and far between.

He would be a good policy for ageing Andrei Markov and an ideal partner for Weber. While wild rumours circulated about the Habs having a scout in Vancouver looking at Alex Burrows, Edler is the guy who, for me, makes the most sense on the Canucks. At the very least, Marc Bergevin should give Jim Benning a call as they would probably take a salary dump in return as well as a good prospect.